Happiness Forever After
by CorvusCorvidae
Summary: Berrittana family enjoy a day to the beach, and reflect on their lives so far, and what's to come. Fluff. Continuing from Day 1- Happiness First. AU. One-shot. Berrittana Week: Day Seven – Free Day.


Berrittana Week: Day Seven – Free Day.

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Happiness Forever After

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Rachel wasn't quite sure how it happened, how she ended up where she was, but she wouldn't change anything about it, that was for sure. She often did wonder how her life had taken these turns, how she had found love from not just one person but two, and how she formed a family with them, but all the decisions along the way had to be the right ones, because life right now was pretty perfect.

Today, they were out enjoying the beach, with the sun shining brightly, and the waves of the ocean looking particularly inviting.

It had been Brittany's idea to go for a family trip out, and given that they had yet to go to the beach, that idea was quickly jumped upon. Santana didn't look too keen on the idea of sand, seaweed, and seawater, but one kiss from the both of them turned that frown in a smile. She'd go, but later she'd complain and they'd put up with it. That's just how things worked.

So, preparing a lunch for them all, putting the dogs in the car, bundling up the kids, they set on their way. It didn't take them long to get there, and then Brittany was grabbing the bags, Santana taking the baby, and Rachel with the dogs. They looked like quite a fleet, trekking their way across the beach, looking for a good spot to set up camp for the day.

Pulling back on the leashes, Rachel let Brittany and Santana with the kids go on ahead while she locked up the car. It was such a bad habit of theirs to leave the car unlocked, she always tried to make sure they changed that habit. Last thing they wanted was dashing out of an unlocked car with kids in the back to have it stolen.

Feeling another tug on the leashes, and some whining from one of the dogs who wanted to make sure the others were okay, Rachel finally began to follow them across the sand with their pack.

It had started out as one; Darby, their Rhodesian Ridgeback. He was their first dog, an absolute delight, and his sheer brilliance meant that it wasn't too hard to convince Santana that another dog would be a good idea. She was always the sceptical one, the one dragging Rachel and Brittany to think everything through.

However, with some careful prodding and a bit of trickery, they had acquired Henry, their Bassett Hound. He was the laziest of their three dogs, and this had continued with age. At six years old, he was living the life of relaxation.

Santana had practically demanded that they stop at two, because she didn't want the dogs to start outnumbering the adults. This seemed like a fair demand, right until their daughter, Madison, reached four and all she could talk about was having a puppy. Rachel and Brittany were on board with the idea, but it took a little more convincing this time around.

It was only after their second baby, Theodore, that Santana relented and agreed. They probably shouldn't have let Maddie pick the type of dog she wanted, because her and Brittany agreed on a Dalmatian, which shouldn't have been a surprise since she was addicted to 101 Dalmatians right about then.

Cosmo entered their life several weeks later, and he was a barrel of energy. Thankfully, Brittany was willing to take full responsibility for the pup's abundant need to be exercised, and they would go running every morning. The hope was that today they could tire him out so he'd sleep soundly later.

With each dog desperate to follow after their family, Rachel walked them onto the sand and let them off the leashes. They were well enough behaved not to get themselves into trouble. Being set free was met with such jubilation from Cosmo that he went sprinting off towards the water, and Darby following behind. Rachel could only hope Darby would keep Cosmo out of trouble as Santana would be pissed if she had to go in the sea and rescue him again. That would not be good for this trip out.

With those two off, playing in the water, Rachel was left to follow behind her family, with Henry at her side. He looked as put out as Santana by this day to the beach, and how those two hadn't bonded so strongly was beyond her. But, she wasn't complaining, because she had found such love from him.

Reaching down to pet his head affectionately, Rachel heard her daughter laughing away and looked up to see Brittany striding ahead with most of the bags, holding their daughter's hand as they jumped about across the sand. Madison was enraptured with Brittany's jovial laugh, and although she couldn't hear the joke herself, Rachel found herself smiling, too.

Quite a distance behind was then Santana, who was taking a slower pace while talking animatedly to their son who was on her hip. It was only eight months ago when he decided to grace them with his presence, and Santana was still using the 'I had a baby' card to get out of doing things. Given that Theo wasn't one yet, Brittany and her were letting Santana get away with it, but as soon as his first birthday that excuse was going out the window.

It wasn't much further of a walk before Brittany and Maddie picked an ideal spot to have a seat and began setting things up. Like Rachel suspected, when Santana made it to them, she continued to standing idly by and letting Britt do all the work.

"Come on, Henry, let's go help," Rachel said, picking up her pace to a light job. Henry gave a groan as he moved to follow, trudging along the sand. "Good to see you making yourself useful," Rachel joked, slapping Santana lightly on the ass as she skipped round to help Brittany unfold the blankets.

"Hey! I'm still recovering from this one. When you had Maddie, we didn't have you doing manual labour," Santana called, nuzzling into Theo as she spoke.

Brittany rolled her eyes affectionately at her and gave Rachel a thankful smile as the blankets covered their sitting area. Maddie was then asking for her bucket and spade, and Britt set her up with that while Rachel searched the bags for sunscreen, before she went darting off towards the dogs in the water to play. Cosmo just about drowned himself trying to scramble out of the waves to come play with her. Ridiculous dog.

Settling down onto the blankets, Rachel took a hold of Theo, kissing him on the temple as she did so, and allowed Santana to kick off her shoes and sit down, too. Theo's dark curly brown hair and big expansive eyes were fixed on his mama as she settled, and then he was smiling for her to take him back. Rachel was not offended by such and gave him one last kiss before handing him back to Santana.

"Maddie, come and get sunscreen on please!" Britt called, waving her over. She also attracted the attention of the dogs and they came barrelling over.

Cosmo flooded Brittany's side, stepping on Rachel as he did so, to see his goddess, but Darby hung back with Maddie to make sure she was okay. He trotted over with her hanging on his collar, and then lazed down with a fuss once he reached the end of the blanket.

Holding out her arms, Rachel accepted Maddie's hug tightly, and helped move her wavy brown hair over her shoulders so Brittany could put on sunscreen for her. She giggled and tried to slide out the way, determined not to wear it, but eventually resigned to her fate. Once Rachel's arms loosened, Maddie was off, covered in sunscreen, with the dogs darting after her; even exhausted Henry went running as well.

"Do you think she needs her hat on?" Santana asked, ensuring Theo was properly hidden from the sun. "Did you pack it? I don't want her scalp burning," she went on to say, and Brittany went hunting in the bags for said item.

"It should be in the bag, but if not she can wear one of ours, and we'll just put sunscreen on her head," Rachel answered, waving her hand.

"I can see that going down well," Santana drawled. She prayed it was in the bag. Maddie was every bit like her mother when it came to throwing tantrums, and Santana wanted to avoid that at all costs.

As much as she loved Rachel, their daughter was far too much like her for sleep easy nights. Santana could only think of what their life was going to be like when their daughter was in high school. If diva tantrums and storm outs became the norm, she'd sue Rachel for not controlling her genes.

"Found it!" Britt called, smiling excitedly. "Maddie, come and put your hat on, please!" Their daughter looked over with a shake of her head and okay, apparently she now didn't trust them. "Maddie!" Brittany called again, and the family knew that tone well.

Brittany was never one to yell, but mostly spoke firmly. She used her normal and fun, teasing tone most of the time, but when she was losing her patience, one got a warning. Rachel and Santana had learnt never to push Brittany past the warning stage lest they want to spend their nights in the spare bedroom, or spend days trying to apologise for what they did wrong.

Maddie had also picked this lesson up, as she came darting back across the sand, grabbing the hat and tugging it on her head. Then it was back to playing, and Brittany smiled proudly. If Rachel and Santana had tried to get Maddie to do that, she probably would have ignored them a little longer, which meant it was a nightmare when she was off on a shoot, working.

Turning back to her family, Rachel leant over and kissed Brittany on the cheek, silently thanking her for managing to make that as less stressful as possible. Turning on the blanket, Rachel began to apply sunscreen to her legs, and then couldn't help herself from watching their son.

Theo fussed about on the edge of the blanket and the sand, looking royally scandalised by it flying up at him as he smacked the ground. Santana was quick to pull him into her lap, away from the edge of so he didn't eat the damn stuff, and to stop any oncoming tantrum. The boy had a great set of lungs on him, and no, they didn't want to scare half the beach with his screaming.

Cooing to him softly, whispering calming words into his hair, Santana planted a kiss on his head, and then smiled up at Rachel who was watching them.

"What's up with you today? You're being weird." That felt like an understatement.

"I'm just…I'm really happy," she answered simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"Why? What have you done?" Santana asked quickly, only to receive an eye roll in return.

"I've not done anything," Rachel replied, chuckling under her breath as she shook her head. "Can't I just be happy?"

"Last time you were in that mood, you'd bought a new couch to surprise us with. Don't tell me you've done something similar?"

"Shush, you love the couch." That was true, and Rachel was not going to sit by while they dissed it.

"Yeah, now I do, but it's nice to be consulted on things," Santana answered, a slight scowl on her face at the thought of being kept out of the decision making.

"What are we not being consulted on?" Brittany asked, tuning into the conversation again, with her eyes still glancing over her shoulder to check on Maddie.

Now she was collecting shells along the beach, dropping them into her bucket. They were meant to be a surprise for her mommies, as she'd told Brittany earlier, but Brittany was trying to make sure she didn't walk off to far. But with three pairs of eyes now watching her, she wasn't getting out of sight.

"Rachel's happy," Santana added, running her hands over Theo's hair, loving the curls.

"I'm happy, too!" Brittany answered, leaning over to give Rachel a kiss, enjoying the taste of her lip balm. "What's wrong with being happy?"

"Santana thinks I've done something in order to be happy, not that I can just be happy by myself," Rachel answered, giving Santana an unimpressed look. Please.

"Have you done something? I like this couch, it doesn't need changing." Santana snorted and pretended to hide herself behind Theo, who was trying to kick his legs out, when Rachel shot her a glare.

"No, the couch is fine. I haven't done anything. I'm just happy," she explained, smiling and reaching to hold both of their hands. Brittany's hand was immediately in hers, and then Santana finally gave hers with a teasing roll of her eyes.

"Well, good," Brittany chimed. "I want us all to be happy. And I'm happy!" she added, feeling a warmth in her chest at knowing Rachel was happy with them.

That was all they ever wanted. Their relationship hadn't always been easy, and at times it had been heartbreakingly painful to keep everything together, but they'd made it. They had succeeded against the odds, and had grown from strength to strength. First with their dog, Darby, then Henry, and their first child, Maddie, and then puppy Cosmo, and finally baby Theo.

It was all worth it, all the struggles, and all the drama was definitely worth it to have this, and they all were in agreement. They would never have done it another way, and their minds scanned back on how they got there.

It had been hard to adjust in the beginning, hard to work out what was going on. Back when they were in college, all living in the same apartment, it had been easy. They were all in their own worlds, doing their own thing, and then coming home to each other as friends do. But then Santana broke up with the girl she was dating, and Brittany broke up with her boyfriend, and they were all single. What was meant to be a pact of solidarity to remain single through the new year ended up going horribly awry.

For starters, the rules had been no dates, and no hook ups whatsoever. The latter of this was the catalyst for disaster, because while it was freezing outside, the heating was on the blink in their apartment and most nights were spent wandering around in tank tops and their underwear. So of course, there was going to be someone admiring the other's figure, and of course, there was the odd close contact when moving around their tiny kitchen.

Thighs brushing things, fingertips running over arms, eyes glazing upon expanses of skin as the other moved about all ended up becoming some big game of foreplay. The energy in the air was palpable, and one too many drinks turned their innocent friendship into a fantastic night of body shots and kisses that made them an entirely new type of drunk.

Of course, it wasn't smooth sailing after that. Rachel wanted to talk about what they'd shared, knowing there was still something more that needed to be explored, Santana didn't want to even acknowledge anything had happened, and Brittany was torn between the two.

Two months later, ringing in the new years, the three of them found themselves coming home after a fantastic party together. Rachel confessed to Brittany that she didn't have a midnight kiss, and if willing, would Brittany kiss her. The offer was accepted with a pleased smile on lips, and as Santana watched on,

"Fuck it," she called, moving closer, cupping Rachel's face in her hands and kissing her firmly.

"I knew she'd come around," Brittany muttered, leaning over to plant kisses along Santana's neck.

It was a rocky foundation they ended up building upon; based on heated kisses and far too much sex to be considered an actual relationship, but within time, they worked things out. They were dating, all three of them, and they did what those in relationships did, regardless of the fallout they seemed to get.

It then all grew from there, with telling their friends, their parents, continuing to live together, graduating college, moving apartments, getting jobs, their careers growing, and God, they were ridiculously in love with each other, which made it all worth it.

"I'm happy, too," Santana finally said, leaning down to kiss Theo's head. "You both make me very happy." She shrugged it off, but Brittany and Rachel were smiling at her like she'd just announced she was pregnant again, which was definitely not the case.

Though, that did spring a thought in Brittany's mind.

"As happy as we are, I'd like to make us happier," she said, biting her lip and side glancing the other two. Theo squealed excitedly at having broken free from Santana's grasp, and Brittany leant over to put him on her lap, kissing his head as she did so. He still smelt so good.

"Oh?" Rachel asked, turning to look at her curiously. Shooting a look at Santana, she was hoping to see if maybe she knew what was going on, but she looked just as curious.

"I'm ready to have a baby," Brittany said, smiling, albeit nervously, now.

"Seriously?" Santana asked, shock in her voice.

"Yeah. I know we have Theo, and he's still young, but I'd like to start the process, and I hope that maybe in the future we can have-"

"Britt!" Rachel squealed, causing Theo to look at her excitedly. "We can work all the details out later, this is fantastic news!"

"Yeah?"

"Yes! We're going to have another baby! Your baby!" Rachel couldn't contain her enthusiasm and moved closer, pulling Brittany's lips to hers and kissing her soundly, which caused Theo to laugh and clap his little hands.

"San?" Britt asked, leaning back from the kiss to see her face, rather nervously.

"Please," Santana began, rolling her eyes. "You're going to look gorgeous pregnant." That was enough that was needed, and she leaned over to kiss Brittany, chuckling as she did so.

"So you don't have a problem with this?"

"I'm ecstatic," Santana murmured, nuzzling into Brittany's temple. "This is going to be so much fun."

No truer words could be said, in Rachel's opinion, and as she looked down to her family, with her dogs and daughter playing about on the beach she knew only good things could come for them. Another addition to the family would do nothing but bring pleasure, and be another adventure for them.

They really couldn't be happier.

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End file.
